Kids Tell Mayor Why They Love Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH -- Mayor Luke Ravenstahl congratulated the winners of the Catholic Schools "I Love Pittsburgh" essay contest on Monday morning.

More than 200 children entered the contest, which asked them to write about why they love Pittsburgh.

"I have to say that I love the beauty of Pittsburgh the most," said first-place winner Sequoyah Rodgers, a seventh-grader at St. Agnes. "I've just never been to a city that's built with so many things to do, and they're so beautiful. And like with snow that covers it or the sunshine, it's just, I like to see it."

"What I love about Pittsburgh would have to be just the entire atmosphere of the sense you get when you walk into our city. Just the entire friendliness of the people. Just everything," said seventh-grade student Brandon Kowalecki, from Holy Spirit.

Raven Reid didn't have any trouble relating what she loves about her city.

"Go Steelers!" the eighth-grader from St. Raphael said. "I like everything about Pittsburgh. Well, most things about Pittsburgh! I like the schools, the hospitals because I just recently had surgery and the hospital was just real nice to me. And that's why I like the hospitals."

Rodgers, Kowalecki and Reid met Ravenstahl during a ceremony at North Catholic High School in the Troy Hill neighborhood.

"Sometimes, we tend to dwell on the negative," said Ravenstahl, a 1998 graduate of North Catholic. "What excited me most about these essays was the young people of this city and town are talking about the positive and talking about why they love living here."